BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO 29 YEARS IMPRISONMENT IN THE SHOOTING DEATHS OF TWO BEST FRIENDS, A COLLEGE BOUND STUDENT AND A VETERAN OF THE WAR IN IRAQ

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 22-year-old man will spend the next 29 years in prison for his role in the shooting deaths of an Iraq War veteran and his best friend who was headed to college.

Marlon Henry was convicted on two counts of Manslaughter in the 1st degree in the deaths of Robert Melendez, 24, and Kristopher Jimenez, 18, on November 3, 2003 at the Boston- Secor Houses in the Edenwald section of the Bronx. Henry, of 958 Adee Avenue, the Bronx, pled guilty last February shortly before opening arguments following jury selection.

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gross sentenced Henry to serve consecutive terms of 14 ½ years in prison for each homicide.

Melendez was waiting to begin training at the New York City Police Academy when he was shot and killed two weeks before his 25th birthday and three months after being honorably discharged from the Army following two tours of duty in Iraq. The young war veteran and his best friend were sitting on a bench in a courtyard at the housing complex when they were approached by Henry and his accomplice, Apolinar Roque, 22. Henry and Roque demanded that the two friends turn over their valuables. Melendez and Jimenez were shot and killed when they resisted the gunpoint robbery.

Roque, who also pled guilty to two counts of Manslaughter in the 1st degree, is to be sentenced to consecutive terms of 12 ½ years imprisonment on each count for a total of 25 years incarceration.

The case was prosecuted by Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney Theresa Gottlieb and Assistant District Attorney Frances Wang.